AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 16

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The South Taieri Dairy Factory, which was recently acquired by Messrs Irvine and Stevenson, is being fitted up with a modern milk-condensing pbnt, and this new industry should be Etartcd within the next few week-. A portion ' of (lie ih'w machinery consists <if a larjjo tank, having a cipa< ity of 500 gallon" for Ix.itnig and cv/tpoiating purposes, and a boil'-r to Mipply the necessary heat and motive power is now being put into noFiti-)n. The new work? will be piobably opened with some little ceremony in the near future. The success of the in-du-try will depend very largely on the establishment of a direct steam service with South Africa, as the local requirements wi'l be comparatively sma'.l, and should be overtaken by the firm's new factory in TaranakiThe Oamaru Mail is informed that there is a great want of men at Ngapara. The ciop o aie now fit to handle, but men cannot bo obtained to do the work. A correspondent at Tokarahi writes that the wef; weather has worked sad havoc amongst the wheat crops, while the oats have also puffered, though not neatly so badly. TLe outlook for many of the settles is net pleasant to contemplate, and at the meeting of the Crown Tenant"" A«oeiation on Friday evening tho matter was t^ken into consideration. A motion was \.r po.scd to ask the Land Board to meet the settler.* by capitalizing a year's rout, but this was rejected in favour of an amendment to appeal for the remi-sion of rent for tho year. The Post learns that the Agent-generfl! has informed the Premier that he has been in communication with the Hon. Mr Han bury, President of the Bntifh Board of Agriculture, in reference to milk-blended butter. Mr Hanbury has expressed himsslf in sympathy with merchants and producers in Nc-vv Zealand who aro strongly opposed to the practice of rolling milk blrndrd hutl. r as pure butter, and ha.s intimated that he proposes to take action in the matter. The proposed winter show to be held at Pdhnei-ton North under the auspice* of the National Dairy A-,ociatioii has been abandoned, owing to the guarantee of £200 winch the association required being £76 4s short of the necossarv amount. Some of tho crop^ in the Oamaru disrict, u-uallv cut before the end of Februtiiy. aro still landing. The potato crop of the Clutha district i<? to a gieat e\'ten.t affected by a disease prevalent m the Home country. Mr J. C Lane, secretary of the Manawatu A. and P. A<-ociaticm, ha- boon appointrd t-oeretary of the New Zealand Pig and Jei-r-y Cattle Breeders' Ai--or iation At a meeting of tho Palmoistim North A. and P. A'-ociation a motion that the Government be requested by the Ajjricultuxal Gon-

ferenee to restrict the exportation of brood snares from the colony was negatived, the opinion generally expressed being that the resolution -was too stringent, and that the conference should be asked to suggest some means of discouraging the exportation of valuable mares. One large grain grower in the Oamaru district is said to have lost by the continued rain no less a sum than £2000. The crop, which is in the stook, is said to be ruined. The Palmerston correspondent of the Oamaru Mail writes on the 11th inst: — The continued wet weather for the past four •weeks will prove most disastrous to the farmers of the district, as we have not had more than two or three sunny day* in that time. Consequently the stooks, both wheat and oats, of which there are a considerable number of acres in the fields, are now presenting a greenish appearance, the grain •having sprouted, while in a number of mBtances many stacks already gathered have had to be taken down and restacked, the rain having pc.iotrated into them. The damage and loss to the settler? will be more widespread than was at first anticipated ; indeed, the outlook is appalling. The potato and other root crops will, in numerous instances, be ruined. It is now (Friday) rainiag heavily. Fortrose notes, in the Southland News : — iWe have had very fine weather for some time, and harvesting is well advanced. -Threshing is the order of the day. This district has been highly favoured with fine weather. The flaxmills aie keeping busy, and, owing to the fine weather, a large quantity of flax is being put through. The dairy factories are still in full swing. Cows are looking well for this time of year, and the milk .supply is keeping up. Before opening up new country on the present route "betweeo Waknahaka atul Catling, it is to be hoped the Government will consider the one most likely to pay, when they have a settled district like the Toi Tois, where people have good homestead? and good land awaiting better communication. America is the country of new breeds of lhe stock and where sentiment as to interference with cstatblished characteristics does not count for much. A leading aim with the American reformers see ns t-o be the permanent removal of horn'- from the noted breeds of cattle, fco which, in thi3 country, these are considered indispensable adornments, lhe existence of polled ohorthorns. or Durhams, as they call them, and polled Jerseys in the United States i-> an old story, but a corrsspondent of the Live Stock Journal furnishes the first account we have peen )f the origination of a polled breed of Herefords. The surprising thing about this achievement is that the hornlehs race has been established without resource to outpido aid, the parent stock having been drawn from registered herds, and, indeed, were theniseJve* registered m the American Hereford record. We have never hard of chance* polled Hercfords having been bred in this country (says the Field), but apparently the strange occurrence is not unknown in America, and it 13 from such animals that the ocw breed ihas. by the ordinary process of selection, been established. It is scan-ply nccpreary to add that the introducers of the nfiv breed claim many advantages for it, for «uch is the case in all instances of the kind Tbe highest price for a shorthorn this year at the public sales ha-s been 240gs, paid by Mr M. Marshall, of Stranraer. at Inverness, for the first and champion bull from Lord Lovat's herd at Beaufort Castle. The Akaroa correspondent of t'.->e Christchurch Pr>»ss states that the late raint, ha\e done wonders for the graziers on the Peninsula, and everywhere there i- feed in abundance. The coomtry at this season of the year ha 3 never looked better. During a recent visit to the north of Auckland a member of the Wolhngion Fo»t staff fhw pigs being fed on choice apples, peachca, and plume. On expressing suipriso at such a sight, he was informed that owing to the freight and the low prices a large part of the produce of the orchard— between seven and eight tons — had been allowed to rot. or be used as food for the pigs. From all accounts (remark, a writer in an English paper), the- farmers of the Argon- j tino are giving steadily increasing attention ■ tt dairying pursuits, the exports of butter i to thi3 country having recently assumed large proportions. The country is well adapted for butter production, and, recognising that the shipment of butter is le.=s subject to disturbing wiflupnces than the export of live Ftock or moat, it :o reasonable t l conceive that there will be a ron-uli»rabl«» transference of attention to tlio formoi, oi. at aH event-, the direction of effort* to butter- making that otherwise would ha\e hern concentrated upon meat production The «!c\ olopmc.it of the dairy niduony may rr.ean an appreciable demand foi milking breads. Tr> anting of ma.ze. which has come into coiisider.ibl'' proTimenPc in this colony riur -me l!i" prefer '-rason. the New Zealand Herald of April 7 lias the following : — There in at present a i-harp demand for Xew Zealand maize for export to Sydney, and local buyers for the Australian market are offering "as high us 3s- 4d per bushel. When the Federal tariff and shipping and other costs are added, consumers in the Commonwealth will be paying from 4h 9d to 5s per bushel for maize. The rise in price io due to drought mi Australia The Sydney Evening New 6of March 27 =ays : "Maize has advanced to 4s per bushel for prime yellow, with bri=k demand for Queensland port. Nothing but white maize is left on the whaives, or, indeed, in all Sydn«y, pending boat arrivals to-night. The white maize i*> of s-ofter nature, and is usually Id per bushel j under prime yellow. The agents arc loath to book ahead at even 4s. not knowing how the high price of whoat and other firming factors may further affect the maize market. The United States have nor« to offer. They had a r>oor crop last year, and this year's (■top will not be available to Sydney before September and October. New Zealand has no large quantity, and has a heavy local draw, on account of the ad-, ance of wheat to 3s 4d and 3s 5d in Christchurch and Dunedin. Lst season's crop of New Zealand maize is nearly exhausted Then- new crops will not be available- for three months. Even then the duty is about 7^d per bushel, exclusive of freight, wharfage and incidental charges (such as insurnce, exchange, and loss of weight), which bring* the total landing cost (tariff included) to 1= per bushel co "New Zealand quotations, so that Is Id mu>-t be obtained to allow the agent any profit." The otdei school of breeders marvel at the enormous weight to which it has been made possible by selection and liberal feeding to raise bullocks at less than three years old. as seen by the record- of the Snuthfipld show, but it seern> that in this direction our performances, far from being unique. are clo=ely rivallrsi by thoi-p of American stockmen. According to a writer who has

been at the Smithfield and Chicago exhibits respectively, the advantage in favour of the former is very slight, and less even in the younger eiasses than in those for animals from two to three years old. It may be observed, however, that since the ages of the American cattle are net definitely stated so as to be reducible to days, as is the case in respect io (ho(=e of the British stock, a really reliable comparison is impossible, for to arrive at a correct result the exact age is as essential as the weight. As regards tho proportion of carcase to live weight, the London exhibits thow a slight superio nry.— Field. -March 8.